Intentions to Marry, 1918 Kaikoura to Rakaia

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840479, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1918 is bound in six volumes (a to f) with continuous page numbers. Each volume contains a different set of districts, going from north to south.

1918e contains pages 1647-2188, covering districts from Kaikoura to Rakaia

Page 2068

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 December 1918

Date of Notice

Names and Surnames of Parties

BDM Match

Condition

Calling or Profession

Age

Dwelling Place

Length of Residence

Marriage Place

Folio

Consent

Date of Certificate

Officiating Minister

664

17 December 1918

Francis Hill
Ysabel Hannah Tryphena Snell

Francis Hill
Ysabel HannahTryphena Snell
💍 1918/5431

Bachelor
Widow January 3. 1918

Engineer

30
26

Christchurch
Christchurch

5 months
1 month

Residence of Mrs H. Hingre, 565 Madras St. St. Albans

5020

17 December 1918

Rev. J. Cocker Methodist

No	664
Date of Notice	17 December 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Hill	Ysabel Hannah Tryphena Snell
BDM Match (98%)	Francis Hill	Ysabel HannahTryphena Snell
	💍 1918/5431
Condition	Bachelor	Widow January 3. 1918
Profession	Engineer
Age	30	26
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	5 months	1 month
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs H. Hingre, 565 Madras St. St. Albans
Folio	5020
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 December 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Cocker Methodist

665

17 December 1918

William Warren Hastings
Martha Wear

William Warren Hastings
Martha Wear
💍 1918/5432

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter
Dressmaker

33
30

Sydenham
Sydenham

Life
Life

Methodist Church Sydenham

5021

17 December 1918

Rev. W. Beckett Methodist

No	665
Date of Notice	17 December 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Warren Hastings	Martha Wear
	💍 1918/5432
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Dressmaker
Age	33	30
Dwelling Place	Sydenham	Sydenham
Length of Residence	Life	Life
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Sydenham
Folio	5021
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 December 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Beckett Methodist

666

17 December 1918

Douglas Vernon Donaldson
Dorothy Vida Nicoll

Douglas Vernon Donaldson
Dorothy Viola Nicoll
💍 1918/5433

Bachelor
Spinster

Military Dentist N.Z.D.C.

30
24

Christchurch
Hornby

1 day
22 months

St. Peters Church Upper Riccarton

5022

17 December 1918

Rev. H. S. Yorke Anglican

No	666
Date of Notice	17 December 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Douglas Vernon Donaldson	Dorothy Vida Nicoll
BDM Match (95%)	Douglas Vernon Donaldson	Dorothy Viola Nicoll
	💍 1918/5433
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Military Dentist N.Z.D.C.
Age	30	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Hornby
Length of Residence	1 day	22 months
Marriage Place	St. Peters Church Upper Riccarton
Folio	5022
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 December 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. S. Yorke Anglican

667

17 December 1918

Albert Richard Mercer
Annie Hall Marshall

Albert Richard Mercer
Annie Hall Marshall
💍 1919/260

Bachelor
Spinster

Dairyman

24
22

St. Albans
Burwood

6 years
9 years

All Saint's Church Burwood

1/1919

17 December 1918

Rev. C. A. Tobin Anglican

No	667
Date of Notice	17 December 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Richard Mercer	Annie Hall Marshall
	💍 1919/260
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dairyman
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	St. Albans	Burwood
Length of Residence	6 years	9 years
Marriage Place	All Saint's Church Burwood
Folio	1/1919
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 December 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. A. Tobin Anglican

668

18 December 1918

Frederick Henry Field
Lucy Marguerite Hurlston

Fredrick Henry Field
Lucy Marguerite Hulston
💍 1918/5434

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

33
32

Christchurch
Christchurch

5 days
2 months

Knox Church Bealey Avenue Christchurch

5023

18 December 1918

Rev. R. Erwin Presbyterian

No	668
Date of Notice	18 December 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Henry Field	Lucy Marguerite Hurlston
BDM Match (96%)	Fredrick Henry Field	Lucy Marguerite Hulston
	💍 1918/5434
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	33	32
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	5 days	2 months
Marriage Place	Knox Church Bealey Avenue Christchurch
Folio	5023
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 December 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Erwin Presbyterian

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

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What is an Intention to Marry?

The 1854 Marriage Act required Pakeha settlers (and later Maori) to register their intention to marry from 1855. The resulting Notices of intention to marry were sent by the district registrars to the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages and bound into large volumes, each containing a year of notices. These registers were eventually deposited with Archives New Zealand.

What information does an ItM record?

A typical Intention to Marry notice records:

the bride and groom's full names
occupation of the groom (and sometimes the bride)
their ages
district where the marriage would take place
how long they had resided in the district
Where the marriage would take place (eg, a specific church)
Who would officiate the marriage (eg, a minister)
The date of the notice and also a date when the certificate was issued. Marriages had to take place within 3 months, and usually occurred within a week or so of the certificate date.
If one of the parties was under 21, a parent who consented to their marriage was usually specified

These details can provide clues for genealogical and historical research. Knowing the date and district makes it easier to look for wedding notices in Papers Past, and the amount of time that the parties had resided in a district can offer clues to whether a person was born in NZ, or when they immigrated.

However, finding individual records in the Intentions to Marry registers was typically a slow and manual process, usually requiring an in-person visit to Archives NZ's Wellington office (during limited opening hours) and using a handwritten card catalogue index to look up individual names.

Eight years of the registers had been digitised by Archives NZ prior to 2024, but even these digital versions required the use of a manual index and usually examining several pages to locate specific records.

What is the Intentions to Marry Project?

This project aims to transcribe the New Zealand Intentions to Marry registers (from 1855 to 1925) with the assistance of new technology (AI), making the records freely available and easily searchable.

The ITM records have also been cross-referenced with the registered marriages at DIA Births, Deaths and Marriages, where possible (a small fraction of the recorded intentions to marry did not become a registered marriage).

Currently we have almost all records between 1855 and 1908. More registers are being added almost every week.

The project is led by Luke Howison, a web developer who made the free genealogical research search tool NZ Ancestor Search Helper and Archway-style Collections Search. There are also some wonderful volunteers assisting with digitising the registers.

Can I volunteer to help?

Yes, you can! You can sign up to correct errors in the transcribed records and match ITMs with registered marriages.

I am also looking for Wellington-based volunteers to help me digitise more years of the registers. I can provide lighting equipment and a 'clicker' (to trigger your phone's camera).

How is the transcription done?

There are several steps to digitising and transcribing the records:

Digitising the registers (taking clean, straight, high-quality photos)
Processing the digitised pages by straightening, cropping and sharpening the images
Transcribing each page with a combination of AI tools
Matching each ITM with a registered marriage when possible
Human verification of the transcribed information

The main LLM (AI) used are the Google Gemini Pro and Flash models, which have excellent 'Vision' capabilities, and a generous free tier.

Archives NZ has released the register years they have digitised (1865-69, 1872, 1874 and 1880) under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license.

The Intention to Marry registers (up to 1925) are more than 100 years old, so their Crown Copyright has expired, putting them in the public domain. This also applies to any 'mechanical reproductions' (eg, pictures or photocopies) of their content without substantial alteration.

The transcribed records on this website are released under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal license, which allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, even for commercial purposes, while giving credit to the creator (NZ Intentions to Marry Project).